PLAINWELL — Proposed legislative changes might streamline the review and permit process that Drug and Laboratory Disposal Inc. faces before it can expand its capacity to treat and store hazardous waste from other companies.

But, in case that doesn’t change, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment held a public hearing Thursday night to gather public comments about the company's plan to obtain a construction permit to add additional space and then an operating license for the expanded facility.

"There are a lot of hazardous waste facilities like Drug and Lab that want to expand," said DNRE hearings officer Steve Buda, "but the existing process makes it difficult for them to get approvals."

Drug and Laboratory Disposal opted to file a construction permit now so it would be considered at the same time that an operating license for its existing facility was under review, company president Brent Walter said.

"Our business is growing 10 to 20 percent each year," he said. "Because the operating permit process is a 10-year cycle, we had to think about what our business would look like in 10 years and set up a phased plan to support that growth."

In its facility at 331 Broad St., Drug and Lab employs 66 people and has about 6,840 square feet of space licensed to treat and store hazardous waste. Another 12,400 square feet of space is used to treat and store non-hazardous waste. The company does not handle any nuclear waste.

The firm has asked to have some existing space licensed for the hazardous waste treatment process, Walter said. The proposed expansion also calls for a waste and chemical loading bay to be built, additional waste storage to be created and a rail spur to be laid.

"We are applying for a large expansion," Walter has said, "but we will do it in phases."

Less than a dozen people attended the hearing where DNRE officials outlined the existing process that must be followed to determine whether Drug and Lab gets first a construction permit to build additional space and then an operating license to use the space. No one spoke against the proposed project.

DNRE staff will take written public comments about the proposed plan until Dec. 27. Those comments will be summarized — along with information gathered during Thursday's public hearing and from other meetings — as the DNRE decides what conditions, if any, should be included in a proposed construction permit. The permit could not be issued until another public hearing was held and that input evaluated.

"Realistically," Buda said, "the process could take months to complete."

Buda said that proposed legislative changes would streamline the review process and enable the DNRE to potentially move directly towards issuing Drug and Laboratory Disposal an operating license for its expansion plans.

"That license then would authorize the applicant to construct needed facilities and the department would certify via inspections that it complied with specified conditions," Buda said.